New Bedford Connections

Timing is everything. As New Bedford opens its doors to a new tourist season, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, a.k.a. Route 18, will be christened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony this May.

It has been open to traffic, of course. But the ceremony will mark the end of 15 years of planning to revamp the highway to a visually attractive gateway that connects the city back to its waterfront.

“It’s absolutely beautiful,” says New Bedford City Council President Bruce Duarte, Jr. “As visitors come in from cruise ships at the State Pier, they’re going to see an entirely different city than in the past.”

Duarte credits Ronald Labelle, Commissioner of Public Infrastructure, with shepherding the project through its long history and getting it built under budget and a year earlier than expected.

Highway’s history

Originally built as the “Downtown Connector” and “Waterfront Arterial” in the 1960s, and now known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, Route 18 connected Interstate 195 with the New Bedford waterfront and downtown.

It was designed to get trucks and cars downtown and to the waterfront fish houses and piers as fast and efficiently as possible. But it came at the cost of closing off pedestrian access to the waterfront and views to the 19th century buildings that make up the historic fabric of the City—things that didn’t carry as high a value at the time.

Times change, and as the downtown shifted focus to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, downtown Bristol Community College campus and a thriving cultural center, those views and that waterfront access became an integral part of the reinvention of the city.

Where did the time go…

In 1998, the City approached former Congressman Barney Frank to get funding for a redesign of the highway. At the time, Frank secured $15 million for the project.

Massachusetts Highway Department (MassHighway) hired engineering consultant Harris, who stayed with the project 14 years to final design through many company name changes to DMDJ-Harris, and now to Boston-based AECOM, a global engineering design firm. Completed plans were submitted to the MassHighway in 2001. But funding was non-existent. The $15 million appropriated in 1998 had been re-appropriated and the project was placed on hold.

By 2006, the project still hadn’t come out of its stall. Former Mayor Lang revived the project, redefined the scope down to $12.5 million, and resubmitted it to MassHighway. Two years later, the final design was approved.

By then it was 2008, the start of economic “belt tightening” and the project had to sit in line for funding again. Three years later, the project was funded, and construction got underway in 2011.

Throughout its long design process, though, Labelle said the goals have always been to improve pedestrian and vehicle access between downtown and the waterfront, to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety by reducing highway speeds and to improve the visual quality of the highway through the National Park.

“And it is very successful,” said Labelle. “The redesign turned a state highway into a boulevard.”

The roadway width is 35 feet narrower, making it easier for pedestrians to get across, Labelle said. It was shifted 22 feet to the east, which helped with traffic-calming and increased the size of pedestrian waiting areas on the downtown side of the highway.

Walnut Street and Elm Street are now four-way intersections. The pedestrian walkway, which blocked views and added to visual clutter, is down and the new bridge to the city from Route 6 is up. With better traffic movement, the multiple directional signs are down, too.

As of April, the project was near completion with only portions of sidewalks, brick walls, and landscaping remaining to be installed, Labelle said. After all that planning, the project was completed a year early—and at $10.5 million, it was also $2.5 million under budget.

Well worth the wait

As visitors come into the city, they can now see the monument sign in a small park announcing the entrance to the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park at Elm Street. The Whaling National Historical Park, established in 1996, covers the 20-block Bedford Landing-Waterfront Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places for 30 years. Getting Bedford Landing on the National Register was the first project of WHALE, the Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE, in 1966.

Traveling on, there are sweeping views of 18th and 19th century buildings along Front Street. The former Coggeshall Counting House, built in 1832, has been renovated by the 36-year-old environmental organization Buzzards Bay Coalition Center. John Coggeshall, Jr., a prominent merchant who built the four-story stone building, once ran a ship’s chandlery, counting house, and sail-making business there. Then there’s the Cork Wine and Tapas restaurant at 98 Front Street, also on the National Register of Historic Places.

All of the historic properties on Front Street had been hidden by guardrails and fencing that acted as a barrier to pedestrian traffic but was needed to separate it from the state highway. With the barriers down, the streetscape provides a snapshot in time from New Bedford’s days as a whaling port.

Views up Center Street and Hamilton Street to the New Bedford Whaling Museum give a glimpse of the reason New Bedford was designated as an historical park. The cobblestone streets and well-maintained 19th century architecture throughout is a one-of-a-kind historic neighborhood that stayed intact for nearly 200 years.

Walking up to North Water Street and looking back down to the waterfront (and you’ll want to get out and walk around to explore this area, even if you’ve been there before) gives unfettered views back to the masts and spires of the trawlers, gillnetters, and lobster boats that call New Bedford Harbor their home.

Connections work both ways. At Union Street, the wide bluestone-concrete intersection and brick paver pedestrian crossing slows traffic and brings people to the State Pier.

“It’s a different view from the State Pier,” says Labelle. “Downtown is more visible—you don’t feel as if there’s a barrier to crossing the highway.”

The State Pier is also part of the Merrill’s Wharf Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Pier contains one of the three wooden plank piers in that district that have existed since the 1850s. The Merrill’s Wharf building, also known as the Bourne Counting House and Durant Sail Loft, still stands as an icon of New Bedford’s days as the largest whaling port in the country.

More to come

Phase II of the Route 18 redesign will continue the traffic-calming and pedestrian improvements all the way to Cove Road. That project, estimated at $6.4 million, is undergoing design review from MassHighway. The remaining pedestrian walkway is scheduled to come down in April to make way for new pedestrian walkways at intersections. Public meetings have been held on the design, and the City is scheduling another for later this month.